Explore this fascinating research that connects teaching best practices to how instructors can best deliver content, whether that be synchronously or asynchronously--and whether in the classroom or online. 12 Tips for Online Teaching Derived from Contemporary...
Traditional ABCD Cards A formative assessment technique that a lot of faculty like to use is the ABCD card. The traditional "ABCD Card" is a sheet of paper marked with each letter in each quadrant with bright colors shading each quadrant. The teacher can pose a...
Three general university classrooms have been created for student engagement and active learning in WWU's Interdisciplinary Science Building. Each room has multiple screens available for both instructor and student use during group work sessions. Participants are able...
Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020. In order to make video content as accessible to all learners as possible, it is important to include closed captioning whenever...
As a result of hardships related to COVID-19 and many other stresses in present-day life for us and our students, many of us may be feeling compassion fatigue. This can lead to distress or burnout. In the article, “Are you experiencing compassion fatigue?” (2022),...
You might have a lot of questions about ADA and FERPA while teaching online as it looks different than in the traditional classroom. This Class Recordings Decision Tree for ADA and FERPA (pdf), also available as a text version, created by Western's Registrar's Office...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of the process of importing video content into your Adobe Spark project, including how to spread that video across multiple slides if it runs too long and adjusting the audio...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an introduction to Adobe Spark, including how to log in and some basic features of video editing in Spark. See also: Free Online Video Editor - Adobe Spark Image Attribution: "Adobe Spark icon...
Updated 9/15/25 Research and articles about artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots such as Chat GPT have exploded onto the higher education scene, along with much concern and fascination. ATUS instructional designers developed the following considerations based...
Using Canvas quizzes, you can create assessments similar to what you may have given in a face-to-face class. However, there are other forms of assessment that focus on students producing knowledge and then sharing that knowledge with their classmates. Explore some...
by Kamarie Chapman, Senior Instructor, Theatre and Dance, WWU Overview The idea of alternate grading (ungrading) was presented to me during the spring quarter of 2021. All the courses were offered online and students could opt to take a class as Pass/No Pass up...
Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020. Everyone is going to have a different set-up that they are teaching from. This post, with ideas from AJ Barse, is here to help you...
Explore Best Practices for Creating Online Quizzes and Exams for ideas for designing online quizzes and exams using the tools available at Western. This guide includes the following topics: How to Design a Quiz or Survey Accessibility & Moderating Quizzes...
by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU Getting bored with Discussion boards? Consider having students post to a wiki! A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users. Rather than discussion boards, where students reply...
by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU Have you ever popped into a breakout room to check on your students, only to find cameras off, everyone muted, apparently using the time for their own purposes, rather than engaging with each...
Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020. As teachers, we all know that it is important to set expectations at the start of the quarter for all students. One way to consider...
Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020. If you are looking for a safe, inclusive, and free virtual space to create classroom groups and discussions, Flip is the tool for...
Contributed to the TLCo-op by Alina Holmes, Graduate Research Assistant of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment, 2020. One of the many reasons that people decide to go into teaching is because they like working with learners who are often young...
You can easily edit in HTML in Canvas to build your site if you have some basic HTML skills to add interactivity into your Canvas course. Using HTML will allow you to do things like embed videos or Google slides, or add tabs to your site as a way to organize content...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of how to use SimCheck, an online plagiarism detection and educational option that is integrated with Canvas assignments. For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU. See also: How...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of how can copy course content such as assignments, modules, pages, and discussions from previous Canvas courses into existing courses. You only have access to copy content from courses in...
Canvas is WWU's learning management system and primary academic resource for managing course content, assessments, grades, and communications. Key resources for Canvas include the following: WWU: Canvas Help - WWU hub for Canvas support, including these request forms:...
Occasionally, things do not go as planned when quizzes and exams are administered via Canvas. Whether it is an internet outage or personal conflict, getting the assessment back on track may be possible. Communication when the LMS is down: When unable to contact...
Explore the large collection of videos created by instructional designer, Kevin Dixey, and other ATUS staff. These videos may differ from what is shown in Instructure's documentation for Canvas and better represent the WWU Canvas environment. See also: WWU: For...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of how to use the "annotated submission" option on Canvas assignments. For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU.
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of the process of creating the questions in your quiz, including setting up different types of questions, adding comments to potential answers, and assigning point values to questions. See...
This video from WWU's Instructional Design Video Library provides an overview of new, more flexible alternatives to the “mute grades” feature,(which is no longer present in Canvas) allowing for temporarily hiding grades from students while grading. See also: How do I...